Zan,

an excerpt from a chapter that I am writing...

"Most of us give very little thought to the inks that we use.  However,
they are complex chemical mixtures and their compositions are often
proprietary secrets.  Inks are mixtures of pigments, dyes, binders and
vehicles.  Dyes stain the paper fibers, while pigments settle out on the
fibers.  India inks are pigment type inks that use carbon black as the
pigment.  Several India inks that have been found to be relatively stable
and are considered archival are Rotring 17 Black, Hunt Speedball Super
Black Ink, Pelikan 17 Black, Higgins T-100 and Pelikan 50 Special Black
(Williams et al 1986).  In addition, there are brands of marking pens that
are considered archival.  They are convenient to use and come in various
point widths.  Two brands that fall into this category are Pigma and ZIG."

Williams, SL, et al. Inks for Documentation in Vertebrate Research
Collections. Curator 29(2): 93-108 (1986).

There is one other archival marking pen that I recently purchased in a
store, however, I do not have the name of it here in my office. Most of
these inks and pens can be found in art supply stores and sometimes in
office supply stores. This information specifically relates to "dry
collections". If you plan on placing labels in a "wet collection"
experiment first. I have used Pigma pens, writing on acid free paper and
the labels have held up for at least 5 years in 80% ethanol.

Hope that this helps.

Regards,
Charlie
******************************************************************************
Charlie Sturm, Jr
Research Associate - Section of Mollusks
                     Carnegie Museum of Natural History
                     Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Assistant Professor - Family Medicine

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On Thu, 9 Sep 2004, Zan J. Zak IV wrote:

> All my book say when you are numbering specimens or writing on catalog cards
> that you should use black India ink. What is it and were do I get it?
>
>                                         Thanks,
>                                                 Zan
>

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